Yoshida Toyo

Yoshida Toyo (1816-5 May 1862) was an official of the Tosa Domain under the Yamanouchi clan.

Biography
Yoshida Toyo was born in 1816 in Kochi Castle, Tosa Domain, Japan. In November 1842 he became a magistrate of the domain under Toyoshige Yamanouchi, and in 1853 daimyo Toyoshige appointed Yoshida to modernize his domain. This did not sit well with Sonno Joi movement members, who were opposed to modernization and wanted to restore the Emperor to power over the shoguns. On 5 May 1862, Yoshida Toyo was assassinated by three men on the orders of Sonno Joi member Takechi Hanpeita in another act of shogunate-imperial violence during the Meiji Restoration era.